"Invalid URL" error when you click a SharePoint Online Promoted Link which uses the file:// protocol

4/10/2020

2 minutes to read

Applies to:

SharePoint Online

In this article

Problem

Consider the following scenario:

On a SharePoint Online site, you have a Promoted Links list.

In the Promoted Links list, you create a link to a local file that uses the file:// protocol.

However, when you view the Promoted Links list in the tile view and then click the link that you created, you receive the following error message:

Invalid URL

Solution

This is the expected behavior in SharePoint Online. This issue occurs because the file:// protocol isn't supported for local files in the Promoted Links list. The http:// and https:// protocols are supported in the Promoted Links list in SharePoint Online.